Girl Names with Strong Meanings

Ottilie is trending in the UK, where the pronounced T helps the name sound pretty and delicate, rather like Amelie and Elodie. Ottilie is less popular in the US, where many Americans pronounce it as a near-homonym for "oddly".

Audrey is one of the girls' names that have been rising due to their connection to Old Hollywood glamour — in this case the eternally chic and radiant Audrey Hepburn. Audrey has another very different appeal as one of the elite group of girl names that mean strong, brave, or powerful.

Matilda is a sweet vintage name that has been gently climbing the popularity list for the past 15 years, after a half-century slumber. The spunky children's book heroine Matilda is one factor in its rise, along with others of its class like Eloise and Caspian.

Louisa, a quaint but strong vintage name, might feel fresher in English speaking countries than old favorite Louise, just as Diana and Julia have more energy than Diane and Julie at the moment. Part of this might just be that Louisa has never been so popular as Louise, so it makes a familiar but distinctive option alongside Eloise, Lucy, Luna, and Lucia.

Edith was a hugely popular name a hundred years ago that's being revived among stylish parents in Stockholm and London. It's currently beginning to gain traction in the US among those with a taste for old-fashioned names with a soft but strong image.

Effortlessly stylish, with plenty of sweetness and strength, Valentina feels like a fresh alternative to Valerie, Victoria, or Vanessa.

Victoria is the Latin word for "victory" and a feminine form of Victor. It is the name of the ancient Roman goddess of victory, the equivalent of the Greek Nike, and also a popular third century saint.

Bridget is the Anglicized form of Brigid, an Irish-Gaelic name that was derived from the word brígh, which means "strength."

Marcella is a name of Latin origin, which has been neglected for decades now. Depicted as the world's most beautiful woman in Don Quixote (where it's spelled Marcela), it has plenty of flair and elegance to revive it again.

Although feminizations ending in "ette" are not particularly popular now, Bernadette is a pleasant, feminine, but strong name that doesn't feel prohibitively dated. And though strongly associated with the saint who saw visions of the Virgin Mary—Saint Bernadette of Lourdes—it is now no longer strictly inhabiting the Catholic diocese.

Maude, also spelled Maud, is a lacy, mauve-tinted name that was wildly popular a hundred years ago, but has been rarely heard in the past fifty. Some stylish parents are starting to choose it again, especially as a middle.

Isa is a name unto itself as both a Persian name meaning "strong-willed" and as Germanic one derived from the element is meaning "ice". It can also be a short form of Isabel, Isabella, Isadora, Louisa, and similar. Currently popular in Brazil and The Netherlands, it has seen some increased use in the US in recent years, perhaps owing to the popularity of other short names like Ava, Mia, and Isla.

Philomena is an earthy Greek name now used in various Latin countries. While it has felt simply clunky for many years, it's starting -- along with such sister names as Wilhelmina and Frederica -- to sound so clunky it's cool.

Valeria -- the original form of the name, used by early Christians --has been experiencing significant popularity in recent years. While Valeria was nearly always on the charts, the name peaked in 2009 at #72, surpassing the longtime Franco-American version Valerie. Today Valeria and Valerie are at about equal rankings, sitting in the 150s.

One of the glamour girl names of the Rita Hayworth 1940s, Rita was once a Top 50 name and stayed on the SSA list until 2002.

This lovely orange-scented Spanish place-name would make an inventive namesake for an Aunt Valerie.

J.K. Rowling is a modern master of naming who brought a whole constellation of ancient and celestial names to modern parents. Bellatrix, of one of the stars of Orion, combines fashionable names Bella and Beatrix to make a convivial and original name. The down side: the Harry Potter character Bellatrix, played by Helena Bonham Carter, is a character so evil she's called a Death Eater, killing one beloved character and being murdered by another. And the name Bellatrix is so closely associated with that character that it might be challenging to sidestep the association.

Is it clunky cute, strong and vintage, or dreadful and mildewy? Like Gertrude and Bertha, Mildred is one that divides the crowds, but with popular nickname Mildred and renewed interest in Winifred, Deborah, Millicent, and Gwendolen, it's not entirely out of the question that Mildred might make a return in coming years

Eunice is a New Testament name of the mother of Timothy, long associated with one of the Kennedy sisters, the founder of the Special Olympics. As high as Number 106 in the early 1900s, it lasted on the list until 1995. Eunice was the birth name of Nina Simone, which gives it a modicum of cool.

Spelled this way, Briana was coined by Edmund Spenser for his great literary work, The Faerie Queene, which gives the now-overexposed name a far classier pedigree than it's usually credited with.